Circle launches subsidiary in Bermuda, receives full Digital Assets Business Act license

Peer-to-peer payments technology firm Circle has announced the expansion of its operations to Bermuda.

In a blog post dated July 22, the company announced the launch and regulatory licensing of a new subsidiary in Bermuda. It applauded the country’s efforts to roll out a “well designed and comprehensive” regulatory framework with the Digital Assets Business Act of 2018 (DABA).

Circle has received full DABA license that covers the operation of payment services, custody, exchange, trading and other financial services that use digital assets. It said that the license will enable it to deliver new innovations, including asset listings and trading services, to global customers while ensuring regulatory compliance.

“We plan to serve non-US Poloniex customers with our new Bermuda operations, and we expect to offer many new digital asset services from Bermuda over time. We will also continue our existing operations in the US, Ireland, the UK, and Hong Kong,” Circle co-founders Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire wrote.

With this expansion, non-US customers will use Poloniex, which was acquired by Circle in 2018, through the newly established Circle International Bermuda entity.

“This transition will open the door for non-US customers to access an exciting roadmap of new capabilities we plan to release in the coming months including new crypto asset listings, advanced trading products, and other innovations,” Neville and Allaire said, adding that they would not be able to offer many of these new services to US persons at the moment due to regulatory restrictions.

Circle plans to expand its Bermuda staff to more than 30 people during the next two years, with roles including general management, risk, compliance, finance, trading, and customer operations.

According to CoinDesk, the expansion would in fact see Circle moving the majority of its exchange operations offshore. Allaire told the news portal that 70% of Poloniex accounts belong to non-U.S. customers and the new entity will now manage these accounts.

Previously, the well-funded startup had to lay off 10% staff in late May because of “increasingly restrictive regulatory climate in the United States.”

Earlier this month, Circle ended support for its fiat money sending platform Circle Pay. While making the announcement in this regard in June, the company had said that it wants to focus more on new blockchain-based financial products, which include launching new wallet services and enabling digital currency adoption via Poloniex.